Tumblr now lets you highlight your posts, but it will cost you $1 each time

Just a day after the rather interesting announcement that Tumblr has hired a team to write about itself, they’ve announced a new feature for its users.

It reads:

Every now and then, a post comes along that’s meant for big things. It could be pulling the wraps off your new project, promoting your next show, raising awareness for a cause, or just sharing a truly incredible photo.

Today you’ll have a new option to Highlight those extra-important posts. For one dollar, your post will stand out in the Dashboard with a customizable sticker to make sure your followers take notice!

The feature is now available when creating a brand new post. You can choose to highlight that post with a label which will appear in your followers’ streams but not on the front end of the blog. You can also choose from a variety of messages suitable for events, news, products, something you’re celebrating and much more.

It hasn’t been long since Tumblr announced the new feature, but it’s already been spotted in the wild:

While seeing new features coming out Tumblr is certainly nothing new, the blogging platform has begun to focus more on monetization with its new offerings. Want to highlight one of your posts? It’s going to cost you $1 a pop.

Tumblr has long offered premium-like services for free – including the ability to use your own domain name with the platform, a service which is often paid amongst most of Tumblr’s competitors. Rolling out premium themes last year was its first attempt to generate revenue through the platform. Highlighted posts, on the other hand, are certainly Tumblr’s first attempt to restrict certain basic features to paying customers.

Is this one of many changes we’re going to see at Tumblr, as it sets out on the path to make 2012 its year? We’ll have to just wait and see.